monkeyradio1 wrote:As an adult, it thrills me to be able to afford toys I didn't have, but wanted as a youngin'.
However (and I do have a collector friend that buys & opens toys) I still think opening them is weird.
Okay, I'm terribly confused here. I really am. And I mean no offense, but your posts do seem to be somewhat the opposite of what you claim. (I.E. judgmental and critical)
You wanted these toys years ago when you could play with them and enjoy them. Now, you can buy them, but don't play with them and basically admire them for their packaging.
And you find it weird that a fellow collector opens his.
You do realize how that seems..."off", right?
I have never understood why people buy MISB TFs to keep that way. I never have, and I never will.
1.) They already take up space as is, but you throw in their packaging and it's just a recipe for disaster.
2.) How can you truly admire it if you don't use said item to it's full potential? (This is one of the reasons why I've never liked AFA. I find a total waste. Both time and money.) I can see it for a "Holy Grail" Über rare TF, but your run of the mill figure? Why?
3.) We buy them for the same reason you do, we didn't have them as a kid and now we get to have them. But the difference is, we actually take them out of the package and transform them. Why sit around and gaze at it and wonder what it's like, especially after years or decades, when you can just go open the box and find out and be satisfied?
Unless you're (I mean this in the people in general you, not you specifically) planning on making a buck in the future/seeing them as an investment, I fail to see any reason why someone would buy a BOXED toy only to never play with it. That's like buying a sandwich and not eating it. It's wasteful, it makes no sense, and it's just as silly as it sounds.
I know my tone is coming across as harsh, but this issue has always bugged me quite a bit. Part of being an adult who just so happens to be a kid at heart, is breaking out the toys, having fun and escaping the real world for a while.
Middle aged men in midlife crisis mode go out and buy that convertible they've always wanted. What do they do with it? They drive it to hell and back and have a lot of fun doing it. They get to be the kid they wanted to be, but never could be. They don't shove it in a garage and say "Mmm. Yeah. That was the price of a house, and it's beautiful, ain't it? I most certainly won't drive it. What the heck do you think a car's for? Pfft."
They break it in and let loose. We do the same, but with TFs.
Leaving them locked away in their cardboard and plastic prisons is no way to enjoy them. If you wish to keep the packaging, by all means, do so, but these are toys and they're meant to be PLAYED with. Whether that's simply transforming them back and forth every now and then, or posing them in killer stances that would make the 1980's you cry from the awesome beatdown the now you just gave him, whatever the method, it's still playing and that's what they're meant to do.
Art is meant to be placed on a shelf or a wall and stared at forever. These are not art, no matter how incredible the engineering is. (and some of them do border on works of art, but that's all a matter of opinion...) They're toys, plain and simple, and they should be played with.
You're looking at this from a logic standpoint. You're not looking at this from loose and freed standpoint. You're collecting with the serious business mindset, and taking the fun out of it. When it becomes a chore and something that leads you to deep thoughts and the like, they no longer provide entertainment, and at that point, you must ask yourself "Why do I buy these, then?"
Good question.
And you want something to think about? I leave you with this:
“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
George Bernard Shaw
NOTE: Realize that I am not a perfect Christian, nor do I profess to be. I apologize if anyone's ever offended by me, I'm not perfect. Don't hold my posts and opinions against other Christians.